６６区間、赤字計７００億円　不採算路線の収支初公表―ＪＲ東日本

　ＪＲ東日本は２８日、利用者が少なく採算が合わないローカル鉄道の経営状況を初めて公表した。対象は２０１９年度に１キロ当たりの１日平均利用者数（輸送密度）が２０００人未満の３５路線６６区間で、赤字額の合計は約７００億円に上った。同社は各路線の存廃も含めた見直しについて、沿線自治体などとの協議を進めたい意向だ。
　赤字額が大きかったのは羽越線の村上―鶴岡間で４９億円、奥羽線の東能代―大館間で３２億円、津軽線の青森―中小国間で２１億円など。費用に対する収入の割合を示す収支率は最も高かった只見線の会津若松―会津坂下間でも１７．４％と２割に届かず、最も低かったのは久留里線の久留里―上総亀山間で０．６％だった。（2022/07/28-17:23）

East Japan Railway Co. , or JR East, said Thursday that it logged a total of about 70 billion yen in loss from nonperforming local railway services with a small number of passengers in fiscal 2019.
   The figure was for 66 sections with less than 2,000 passengers on average per kilometer per day on 35 lines in JR East's service areas in the year that ended in March 2020.
   JR East announced for the first time financial conditions of its local railway services that are performing poorly due to a lack of passengers.
   The company hopes to promote talks with local authorities in areas along the loss-making sections and other relevant parties on a review including whether they should be allowed to remain intact or scrapped.
   The amount of loss came to 4.9 billion yen for the section between Murakami and Tsuruoka stations on the Uetsu line, 3.2 billion yen for the section between Higashi-Noshiro and Odate stations on the Ou line and 2.1 billion yen for the section between Aomori and Naka-Oguni stations on the Tsugaru line.